


The Broganes Deaging Fic Nobody Asked For

by ConfusedSpaceKid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Gen, Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Adoptive Siblings, My First Fanfic, POV Alternating, Timeline What Timeline, broganes, mainly for backstory, slight AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-29
Updated: 2018-11-03
Packaged: 2019-05-30 04:06:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15088622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConfusedSpaceKid/pseuds/ConfusedSpaceKid
Summary: Shiro and Keith get de-aged ten years mentally and physically. As far as they are concerned they went to bed in their rooms back home and woke up in space surrounded by aliens and strangers.Shiro is 15, Keith is 8. Basically post season 6 but also sorta timeline transcendent.





	1. Prologue

Fucking finally. The Galran soldier they had chased down and had spent the last 45 minutes battling was finally lying lifeless on the floor. One soldier shouldn’t have been that much of a pain in the ass, but they seemed to have known how to navigate the thick alien forest much better than either of them. They had finally chased the soldier into a cave that also seemed to act as a temple of some sort, cornering him and allowing for the Black Paladins to finally finish off their adversary.

Keith leaned against the wall to catch his breath as Shiro retrieved the crystal they had been sent to recover. This mission had been way harder than getting a tiny crystal should have been. They didn’t even know why this planet's locals wanted it so badly. He honestly just thought it was some sort of bizarre trial they had to complete before they would join the coalition, as their Queen had requested that “The current and former Black Paladins” specifically. However, the Galran soldier’s interest in the tiny, shiny rock suggested that it actually did have some sort of use or value.

Shiro walked back over, also clearly exhausted. They had spent well over half a day just trying to find their way around the giant dense forest, and then they had to deal with guerrilla ambushes. It had been a long day.

“We should take a breather before we head back,” Shiro suggested moving to sit down against the wall. Keith nodded, sliding down the wall to sit with his brother. He closed his eyes, trying to prepare himself for the long-ass hike back to the capital. That was when he noticed a shift in the light through his eyelids. His eyes snapped open and he saw Shiro looking just as tense as he felt, trying to pinpoint why the light had changed. However, it didn’t take too long to notice that the walls of the cave were steadily and evenly glowing, and glowing brighter by the second.

“On second thought, we should get out of here. Now,” Shiro corrected himself, already rising and jogging towards the mouth of the very large cave, Keith right on his heels. It didn’t matter much though, as before they had gone five feet there was a flash of bright light and both boys blacked out.


	2. Chapter 2

Shiro felt as though his entire body had been forced into a box about ten sizes too small for him to comfortably fit. He stretched and yawned, debating on whether or not he should get up now.

“Ah, good morning, young paladin!” chimed an unfamiliar voice.

He jumped awake and had to stifle a scream as he saw an inhuman face hovering over him. The creature that greeted him had four fluorescent blue eyes and dark grey skin, covered in stark white markings. The creature lacked a nose and its mouth was hardly anything more than a slit in its face filled with sharp looking teeth. It was wearing loose robes in dull yellows and reds. It seemed to be very frail and very tall, but he was lying in a bed on the floor while the creature loomed over him, so his perspective might have been skewed.

He managed to get enough of a grip on himself that he could tear his eyes away from the… thing to take in his surroundings. He seemed to be in a small one room hut. There was a kitchen area blocked off by an island counter in one corner, with something cooking on what looked like a stove, a simple set of homemade chairs around a just as rustic table, two more futon like beds, one of which looked like it might be occupied, though it was hard to tell with the Thing in the way, and a rather large storage closet. He refocused on the creature as it began to speak.

“Do not be frightened, I am not here to harm you.” it reassured, “I’m sure you have a lot of questions, so allow me to explain,” it looked to Shiro for approval. He glared but nodded, allowing it to continue. “My name is Ulzai, and I am the guardian of the nearby temple. You and your friend accidentally set off its defense mechanism-” Shiro opened his mouth to ask who his friend was or when he went to any temples. Last thing he remembered was going to bed at home. But Ulzai shot him a look to stay quiet. “-its defense mechanism which has the power to revert those who are caught by its light to who they were ten decathebes ago, mentally and physically. It is my job to see that these people are then taken care of. I have already contacted your companions in the capital, and they should be here shortly. I have some better fitting clothing, if you should wish to change, at the foot of your bed. I am making soup, if you are hungry. Oh! And of course, feel free to check on your companion, he seems to be very young so a familiar face will probably allow for him to remain calm until your companions arrive,” Ulzai finished.

“What friend? What companions? Also, did you say something about de-aging ten...whatevers? What is going on?!” Shiro immediately asked, nearing panic.

“Your friend is sleeping right over there,” it said, stepping aside pointing to one of the other beds, where a tuft of black hair could be seen poking out of a tight small mound in the covers. Shiro had an idea as to who that was, but he prayed to the gods he was wrong.

Ulzai continued “Your companions are the Paladins of Voltron, your brothers-in-arms, the most revered warriors and pilots in the universe. And yes, you are precisely ten decathebes younger than you should be, picking back up exactly where you left off then. You and your friend were sent into my woods to retrieve an ancient jewel, but were attacked by an enemy soldier. You two pinned him down in the temple, defeating your enemy, but triggering the defensive magic. I was alerted the defenses had been used and came to collect you,” he explained simply.

“...Okay, but, what are you? Where are we?” he questioned.

“I am a Yutarian from the planet Yutari, which is where we are,” he answered simply.

Shiro tried to mask his slight whimper of fear, but seriously? Aliens! He was talking to an alien on an alien planet, how was a kid supposed to react?

“Feel free to make yourself comfortable, I swear no harm shall befall yourself or your friend,” Ulzai said as he walked back to the kitchen area. Shiro attempted to stand but accidentally tripped over his much too large clothes. He examined the strange black jumpsuit he wore. Who knew what it was made out of, but it was clearly very durable. He spotted the clothes that Ulzai had offered him and decided that he should quickly change. He gathered up the clothes and ducked behind the cabinet to change in privacy. The outfit he was given consisted of a long tunic-like shirt in an earthy green color, shapeless brown pants, and simple brown soft leather shoes. It vaguely reminded him of the outfits people wore in European fairy tales. The new clothes were a little bit big… he thinks, but still fit better than the jumpsuit. Time to check on his apparent friend who he kept on praying wasn’t who he thought he was.

He approached the sleeping figure cautiously. He was curled tightly in on himself, nearly completely under the thin blanket except for the very top of his head. He was significantly smaller than Shiro, making it abundantly clear that this kid really was very young. He walked around so that he would be facing the kid when he woke up.

He carefully nudged the kid’s shoulder, “Hey, wake up,” he called barely above a whisper. The kid just whimpered and tried to nuzzle deeper into the bed. Shiro shook his shoulder more insistently, “Hey, buddy, you gotta get up,” he insisted, slightly louder.

“Go away, Shiro,” the kid, now confirmed to be his adopted (or more precisely, soon-to-be adopted) brother groaned, still refusing to unbury himself from the blanket.

“Keith, seriously, you have to get up,” Shiro insisted, debating on how to best prepare him for this fever dream of a situation.

“Leave me alone, I don’t feel good,” the 8 year old whined.

“How don’t you feel good,” Shiro asked, concerned, trying to avoid thoughts of them being drugged or poisoned while they slept.

“I hurt,” Keith stated simply, his pout made clear by his voice while his head stayed covered.

“Where?” God, sometimes getting an answer out of him was like pulling teeth.

“My whole body,” he pouted.

Shiro remembered how he had felt when he had first woken up, “Do you feel sore?” he asked. Keith made a noise in agreement and nodded his head. “Then get up, you’ll feel better once you stretch,” Shiro said, finally yanking the blanket off his younger brother.

If looks could kill, Shiro would have been lying dead on the floor. How this little kid could give such aggressive, pissed off death glares, he had no idea.

“I hate you,” Keith growled.

“No, you don’t. Besides, we’ve got more important things to deal with than you being a bit sore,” Shiro teased, hoping to keep the mood light so Keith wouldn’t panic about being on a fucking alien planet like Shiro desperately wanted to.

Keith glared at him a moment before he seemingly registered that they were not in his room back home. “Where are we?” he questioned, curious but completely calm.

“Well…” Shiro began before Ulzai cut him off.

“You are in my home, awaiting your friends. They will bring you back to where you need to be. Feel free to make yourself at home, brave paladin,” the alien answered.

To Shiro’s absolute shock, Keith looked at this strange, tall, sharp toothed, four eyed alien dead in the face and just went, “Oh. Ok, thank you,” without so much as a trace of fear. He then asked, still completely calm, “How’d we get…” he looked around the room a bit confused before continuing, “here? Also, can we eat, I’m hungry”.

“You and your friend came here on a mission, however you got hit with magic that makes you ten decathebes younger. This is the planet Yutari, we are currently in the Zabiwu forest, about 2 vargas from the capital. And as soon as the soup I am preparing is finished, yes, you may eat,” Ulzai continued cheerfully, his tone much brighter and explanation much simpler than when he was talking to Shiro.

“Thank you very much for your kindness, but we can wait until our friends get here to eat… 2 vargas means they’ll be arriving today, right?” Shiro rushed out despite the growlings of his own stomach, still not fully trusting this thing in front of him, cursing his usually overly cautious little brother for suddenly being so trusting, especially to a LITERAL ALIEN.

“Yes, 2 Vargas is not that long, and they headed out about a Varga and a half ago, so they should be here shortly, though you should eat soon. The transformation can be quite taxing,” the alien offered.

“What transformation?” Questioned Keith, still glaring at Shiro for shutting down an offer of food.

“As I said, you became ten decathebes younger than you should be. A lot can change in that course of time, especially for someone as young as you, so your physical form had to go through a lot to get you back to this point,” Ulzai tried to explain, but Keith just looked more confused.

“Look, Keith, why don’t you get changed so we can leave as soon as our friends get here. Don’t want to impede on Ulzai’s kindness, right?” Shiro interjected before Keith could get out anymore questions, dropping the pile of clothes onto his lap. If the jumpsuit had been big on Shiro, it was ginormous on Keith. Shiro actually had to carry him (much to Keith’s protests) behind the cabinet because the limbs of the suit were too comically big for him to walk on his own.

While Keith got dressed, Shiro decided scan to house for all possible exits in case their “friends”/ “companions” turned out to be a threat. One door, right next to the kitchen area, and a single, small window on each of the remaining three walls. At least the windows looked big enough for him to climb through if needed, but high enough off the ground Keith would probably need help. The only weapons in the room he could see through his quick scan were the kitchen knives near the alien. He sighed. _Hopefully_ , it won’t matter. This thing hasn’t killed them yet, so it should be fine, right? These self reassurances did nothing to actually calm him down. He still felt the electricity under his skin telling him to grab Keith and make a break for it. _Calm down, breathe, you’ll be fine._ Nope. Not helping.

Thankfully, before he could get himself into to much of a panic, Keith walked back up to him, announcing that “These clothes are weird,” with a scowl on his face. Keith was in a dull orange tunic and a smaller version if the same shapeless pants and soft leather shoes.

“Yeah, I know, but it's better than that suit you couldn’t even move in, right?” He asked, happy to have his little brother there to distract him.

“I guess,” the 8 year old huffed, crossing his arms, then his stomach growled and he looked up at his older brother imploringly, “ can we please eat something,” he begged. Shiro’s own stomach growled at the suggestion of food, which seemed to catch Ulzai’s attention.

The alien looked up from the pot he had been busying himself with, “I understand your reluctance to take food from a stranger, but once again, you are more than welcome to join me. Your friends will be here shortly, so I understand if you would like to wait, but I am used to sharing my home with those who were affected by the temple’s magic,” he explained, kindly.

Shiro wanted to refuse, but he was so hungry and it wasn’t fair to Keith to keep him waiting. Besides, this alien had shown them nothing but kind hospitality since they woke up. But on the other hand, what if this was part of some sort of trick? What if the soup was poisoned? What if-

His train of thought was cut off by another loud growl of his stomach. Fuck it. “Thank you very much, I-I think we’ve changed our minds. We’ll take some, if you don’t mind.” he said cautiously, and as politely as he could. Keith made an excited noise behind him as Ulzai smiled.

“Of course, come” he beckoned them to come to the kitchen.

The soup might not have smelled strongly, but what smell it did have was amazing. It was spicy and savory, but otherwise indescribable. Ulzai offered them each a bowl as they all sat at his small table to eat. The food was delicious. Completely alien, but flavorful and so, so good. It had a thin broth-like base with thick noodles that reminded Shiro of udon and bits of what he thought were vegetables. Shiro and Keith both devoured their food in silence as Ulzai ate and spoke to them about his job as Temple Guardian and priest, not that either brother was actually listening. As they were all halfway through their second helping there was a knock on the door.

Ulzai stood and opened the door, he then turned to the two boys, smiling warmly. “Your friends have arrived, young paladins.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team doesn't need this and Lance is stressed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one while I try to work on the next full chapter.

The team had been having a diplomatic meeting with the Queen of Yutari as Shiro and Keith retrieved a very important crystal. Apparently the tiny, clear, diamond like crystal was basically like the space philosopher’s stone, except instead of turning things into gold, it, if utilized properly, could convert matter into pure quintessence. Which would be very, very bad if the Galra got their hands on it. Of course, she neglected to tell anyone this until after the Black Paladins had left.

Lance stifled a yawn. Negotiations had ended about two hours ago, but they had nothing to do but sit here while Allura and the Queen made pleasantries. Hunk had his head down on the table, staring blankly into space and Pidge was doing something science related on a piece of scrap paper she had managed to find. Lance was about to dismiss himself to the bathroom for the sole purpose of not having to sit and do nothing for a second more when a messenger ran into the room, looking a little panicked.

“My Queen, we have a small situation,” they said in a what was a very poor attempt at a calm tone.

“What is it? Are the Galra back?” She asked tensely, shooting a glance at the paladins, all of whom were alert and attentive.

“No, no, well, sort of, but the Black Paladins already took care of it.” the messenger rambled, tripping over their words. “Unfortunately, they took care of it in the Zabiwu temple. They’ve been affected.” the paladins had no idea what that meant but the tone the messenger used made Lance’s stomach drop. The messenger then turned to the paladins, and bowed, saying “I am so terribly sorry, I hope this does not change the prospects of our alliance,”.

“What happened to them?!” he blurted out, mind having already jumped to the worst case scenario, as it always does when his friends are in danger.

“Lance.” Allura reprimanded, “we are all concerned, but we mustn’t lose our heads,” she took a steading breath, then turned to the two Yutari, “Please, are our friends alright?” she asked calmly.

“Yes, they should be. The Zabiwu temple is the temple of our goddess of children and the innocent. If anyone breaks any of our sacred rules, such as commit an act of violence, in her temple, they are mentally and physically taken back to who they were ten decathebes ago. I have no clue how old your friends are or how your kind ages, but judging by my messenger’s concern, it was probably a rather significant difference. I’m sorry for the trouble this will cause you,” The Queen explained solemnly.

“Wait, so you’re telling us Shiro and Keith have de-aged ten years?” Hunk asked in disbelief. The Queen nodded slowly, probably confused by Hunk’s use of years instead of decathebes, even though they were roughly equivalent.

“Is there anyway we can reverse the temple’s magic?” Allura questioned, brows knitted together in concern.

“Yes, however, that sort of transformation is very stressful to the body, reversing it now could prove fatal. They need to recover from this change in form before they can be forced into another,” The Queen sighed, her top set of eyes closing.

“How long until they recover enough to be turned back? We can’t form Voltron with both of our Black Paladins out of commission,” Allura’s voice was tense.

“The average recovery time is about two thebes,” The Queen’s voice was quiet and strained. Lance would have felt sorry for her if he wasn’t still trying to process what had happened to his friends. He glanced over to Hunk and Pidge, as if they would have some answers or a way for him to grasp the situation more clearly, but they looked just as confused and alarmed as he felt. He had zoned out of the conversation Allura was having with the Queen, too busy worrying about his friends and Voltron. They were still in a war, they still had to deal with intensive battles against the Galra, they still needed Voltron, and both of the only two people in the entire universe who could pilot the Black Lion were currently children. Oh! And as a bonus to Lance’s stress, as the Red Paladin it was up to him to figure out what the fuck they were supposed to do until this could be fixed. Great.

Allura and the Queen settled on an appointment to reverse this mess and the team headed out to collect their suddenly young friends. Lance drifted in and out of his own thoughts on the way there. They took what was basically a car, as the lions were too big to land in the sacred forest without causing and damage to the trees, which meant that he had about two hours to brace himself for what he was about to encounter. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes, trying to do just that.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The brothers meet the team, and Shiro might have known less about his adoptive brother than he thought.

Shiro nearly sobbed in relief when the people who walked through the door were that, people. In fact they seemed to be teenagers, only probably a few years older than himself. They may have been in strange candy-colored armour, but most of them were seemingly human and the one who wasn’t was an elf-looking girl with a kind, very human face, which was good enough for him.

All four of them stared at the brothers as if they had just been shown a unicorn.

“By the Ancients! They’re children!” the elf-girl gasped.

“I’m 15, I’m not a child,” Shiro muttered under his breath. He hadn’t meant to be heard, but he apparently had been as the two teen boys suppressed giggles, the short one let out a quiet ‘thank you’ and the elf-girl looked even more horrified.

“You’re only 15 decathebes old?!” she gasped, looking between the short one and Shiro.

“God, I hope not,” Shiro replied. He really hoped that decathebes were like months or something, not years. If they were years that meant he was supposed to be ten years older, and he didn’t know if he could handle that.

Of course, because the universe was clearly determined to hurt him, the short one replied with a blunt, “Yeah,” which after a pause was followed by a soft “I’m the same age as Shiro...weird…” in a rather uncomfortable tone that he was unsure whether or not he should take offence at. He decided against it as he had bigger things to deal with.

The elf-girl still looked a bit shook as she turned back to the brothers and cleared her throat. “I-I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Princess Allura of Altea, I am the Blue Paladin of Voltron,” she introduced herself with practiced formality, extending her hand stiffly, though her face was relaxed and welcoming. Shiro shook her hand with a slight bow, partly out of respect for apparent royalty, partly out of habit.

Keith barely bothered to shake her hand at all.

“I’m Lance, the Red Paladin. Me, Pidge, and Hunk all went to the Garrison before this whole Voltron thing,” the blue one offered next. The fact that the one wearing blue armour claimed to be the Red Paladin while the one in pink claimed to be the Blue Paladin gave him pause, but the mention of his school was much more important in his mind.

“You’re Garrison Cadets?” he questioned eagerly.

“Yep, or at least we were,” the blue/ red one, Lance, replied easily.

“So is that how we know each other? We work together at the Garrison?” These kids seemed a bit young to have graduated, but he was on an alien planet and one of them wasn’t human, so that wasn’t really much of a concern.

“Sorta?” Lance shrugged.

“We work together for Voltron, now. Back at the Garrison, you were one of our instructors, we were in the same class as Keith,” the Yellow one, presumably Hunk going by size, added.

“Oh…” hearing that his little brother is supposed to be 18 and seeing two 17-18 year olds say they were in his little brother’s class were two very different things entirely. He looked over to Keith who was eyeing Lance and Hunk wearily, hiding slightly behind Shiro. Keith was supposed to be like them, he was supposed to be their instructor. God his head hurt.

“I know this must be...startling... for you two, but we really should be heading back. We can fully discuss the situation once we’re back on the Castle,” Allura stated.

“Castle?” Shiro asked to no one in particular.

“It’s also a spaceship,” Lance answered casually, leaving Shiro all the more confused.

Ulzai cleared his throat, drawing attention back to their alien host, who had produced two neat piles of the same sort of armour that the Paladins were wearing, the jumpsuits he and Keith woke up in, a large, brutal looking knife, and a fucking metal ARM and placed them neatly on the table. He really didn’t want to know why there was an arm. “I’m sure you would like to take their belongings. These seem important,” Ulzai joked, a slight smile tugging at his mouth.

“Of course,” Allura smiled back in an equally light tone, collecting up the pile of red armour. Hunk grabbed the black pile while Lance grabbed the arm, looking about as unnerved as Shiro felt knowing that his and his little brother’s belongings included a severed metal arm.

“Thank you so much for caring for our friends, your kindness is greatly appreciated. I hope we meet again,” She added, turning towards the door.

“Wait, Princess! You forgot this,” Ulzai called, holding up the wicked looking knife Shiro had noticed earlier.

Much to Shiro’s shock, Keith was the first to respond. “That’s mine! Give it back!” Keith jumped out from his position behind Shiro and yelled, the edges of panic creeping into his voice.

“What do you mean that’s your knife?!” Shiro questioned. No way in hell anyone in their right mind would give an eight year old a knife like that.

“I mean it’s mine! I need it! Give it back!” he continued, panic clearly mounting in his tone. It’s clear that that knife means a lot to him, but Shiro had never seen it before and Keith had been living in his house for almost a year.

Shiro retrieved the knife from Ulzai, deciding that it was still probably a bad idea to give a kid a knife that was clearly designed to be a weapon. He tried to explain to Keith that he would keep it safe, but that it was dangerous for him to have it. However, Keith just got even more worked up, begging Shiro to please give him the knife back. It was when Keith, who Shiro had never seen cry unless he started to miss his father who died almost a year ago, started crying over the knife that he finally agreed to hand it over, assuming they could get something to wrap it up in. Someone handed him it’s proper sheath nearly immediately, then he handed the blade to Keith.

Keith snatched it out of Shiro’s hands and clutched it to his chest like a teddy bear, sobbing in relief. Everyone else seemed just as shocked as Shiro was, and were looking at him for explanation. Something he didn’t have.

Shiro knelt down by his still crying brother and cautiously put his hand on his shoulder. Keith instinctively pulled the weapon impossibly closer to his chest and looked at his brother with giant, terrified, teary eyes. “Shh, it’s ok. I’m not going to take it. I just want to know where you got it. I’ve never seen it before,” Shiro stated in a soothing tone.

“M-my mommy left it for me when she left whenever I was a baby,” he hiccuped in a small voice. Shiro was honestly shocked. He had known this kid for nearly a year and had never heard him mention his mother outside of him ‘not having one’.

“How come I’ve never seen it before?” Shiro asked cautiously.

“I didn’t want anyone to take it, so I kept it hidden,” he replied honestly and softly.  
Shiro was going to continue asking why the hell his mom decided to leave him a knife, or how the fuck he managed to hide the giant, shiny knife (in a much nicer way, of course), when Allura interrupted. He had honestly forgotten they were there.

“Now that you have your knife back, why don’t we head back to the castle? That way we can get you two situated and catch you up on all of the essential details,” the princess interjected. Keith nodded slowly.

Then, after profusely thanking Ulzai for his kindness, the brothers followed the strange teenagers out of his house and into a giant, distinctly alien forest. The strange, foreign flora really drove it home that they really and truly were on an alien planet. Keeping himself calm and collected might be harder than Shiro anticipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm not dead and neither is this story! Sorry for the long update gap, but this story isn't abandoned. Hopefully there are still people sticking with it!


End file.
